Hey! It's been awhile, I know, but my documents are all gone. Read my bio if you want confirmation. Everything went kaput, so I'm B.S.ing everything. Meh, a freak's gotta do what a freak's gotta do. Anyway, thanks for everyone who wished me a happy birthday :D :D It made me happy. And here's chappie two.

An Invitation

Jason's lower lip wavered, his eyebrows creased in a deep frown. "But…but I gave this to…" he trailed off, transfixed with the paper in his hands. He dropped it suddenly as if it were on fire, letting it slowly feather to the floor under Clark's desk. Childish eyes tentatively glanced up at Clark, full of question, starting to water.

"I…I don't know where that came from," Clark lied, fumbling with his words. "It…just appeared there." He swallowed hard, trying not to break the eye contact. Kids, if anything, were even more perceptive when it came to lying and human nature. But he couldn't help it. He looked away, averting his attention to the computer screen. "Have you seen it before?" he managed to ask.

Jason nodded. "But…" He was clearly distressed, looking to Clark for answers. "Are you…?"

Clark cleared his throat. "Lois," he greeted his coworker as she approached, feeling himself start to sweat. If Jason blew his cover, there would be no going back. He highly doubted that a nice smooch on the lips to erase memories wouldn't work on Jason, for more reasons besides his parentage, and kissing Lois was out of the question. "How'd your interview go?"

Lois rolled her eyes. "I could've gotten the same answers from a fortune cookie, she was so vague. People keep claiming to know where Luthor is because of the reward money. I told Perry it was a bad idea, but he doesn't seem to care how long it takes to interview every crackpot in the city."

"I'm sorry," Clark said distractedly, eyes flitting down to Jason. The five-year-old was completely silent, still staring at the picture on the floor.

"Hey, honey, what's up?" asked Lois, bending down to Jason's eye level.

Jason bit his lip, the mental battle obviously working itself out in his brain. "I dreamed about Superman last night," he mentioned quietly, his voice small and sad.

Clark took a deep breath. Either Jason was fooled, or he was covering. Both scenarios worked to his advantage. But was Jason that great of an actor, to fool his mother? Maybe he really did believe he'd dreamt the whole meeting up. And Clark wanted to be close to Jason, even if it meant through Superman.

"Really, honey? What happened?" she asked, grinning up at Clark conspiratorially.

For a moment Clark was stunned at her acknowledgement of him, but then he smiled back easily. For the first time in weeks, he hadn't had to force a smile as Clark Kent. It felt pretty good.

"…I can't remember," Jason replied, tearing his eyes off the paper on the floor. "I thought he was there, though."

"Well, we know that he's always around," Lois assured him, patting him on the back. "He's very busy, you know."

Clark nodded in agreement, trying to squash the feeling of longing that rose in his chest. Yes, Jason, I am Superman. I didn't want to lie, but…I wanted you to be safe…and—

"We'd better get home," Lois told her son. She motioned to the office. "Go and grab your backpack, okay? Daddy's coming in a second."

Jason bolted towards the office and didn't look back. Clark watched him leave, internally flinching at the word "Daddy." At least he was Mr. Clark. That is, if Jason ever spoke to him again.

"Sorry about him bothering you," Lois apologized, fiddling with a pen in her hands. "He gets a little hyper."

"It's no trouble at all. He's a great kid, Lois," Clark said truthfully. "Smart, too."

"Well, gosh, thanks," she said, lightly teasing his choice of exclamations. "Yeah…he's a lot like his father, too," she said, smiling distantly. Of course, she had no idea that she wasn't the only one in the room that knew why she was distant; she had no idea that the Man of Steel himself was standing right there in all of his corporate glory.

"Yeah, he does look a lot like Richard," Clark forced out, the words feeling like acid.

Lois nodded. "Yeah." After a moment, she perked up and said, "Uh, I…I realize that we never got to catch up with all of this nonsense. I mean, you've been gone for three years—"

"Five years," Clark corrected amiably.

Her eyebrows raised. "Really? Oh, that's right! I forgot, you weren't around when Jason was born. Wow, time's really flown," she reflected, still clickety-clacking the pen in her hand. She shook her head. "I've been a jerk, Clark. I mean, you were my partner for a long time and…"

Clark cut her off. "I understand completely, Lois. Besides, I was all over the world, I would have been hard to track down. And it has been pretty crazy since I first got back. It's not your fault at all."

"No—no, it is," she countered, defending her argument. "It's just…with Superman…"

Clark cleared his throat.

A smile played on Lois' lips. "You're not still jealous of him, are you?" she laughed, bringing back an old joke from their old partnership days.

Clark laughed, too, but mostly at the irony. She had remembered, though, as small and insignificant as the joke was. She'd remembered.

"Nah, I'm over that now," he played along.

"Good. Because I doubt Superman could ever type up great articles as fast as you could."

"Of course not," Clark joked. He realized that this was the longest conversation he'd had with…well, anyone since he'd gotten back. It felt like high school again, the only days close to normalcy that he ever had.

"So, I was wondering if we could go out to lunch tomorrow and catch up," Lois invited awkwardly. "There's this really nice place out on the water, it's only a couple of miles from here…"

"I'd love to, Lois," Clark agreed. "And you can tell me all about Jason and Richard." He managed not to stutter at the mention of her fiancé's name and mentally congratulated himself.

"Mommy, I'm ready," said Jason, a Superman-themed backpack draped over his shoulder. Clark tried to read his expression to determine how everything was affecting him, but all he could see was that he'd thoroughly bewildered the kid. Jason's eyes were still wide to a point where they looked slightly pained, but Lois didn't seem to notice, grabbing his hand.

"Good, honey. Is Daddy coming?"

"Yup." Jason pointed to Richard, who was engaged in a conversation with Perry. "In a sec, he said."

"Alright. Sit tight, honey, I'm going to ask Jimmy if he has any photos…"

Clark stiffened, he and Jason suddenly alone. "You…uh…want the drawing? Is it yours?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah, I drew it. But I gave it to Superman. You have to believe me," he said, his eyes tearing up. "Did he lose it?"

"You gave it to Superman?" Clark asked, his heart breaking. How could he lie to Jason, his son? Jason had a right to know. He could trust Jason, he was pretty smart for a little kid. And it was clearly upsetting him to think that Superman didn't have his prized drawing.

Clark silently cursed his lack of living space. Inconspicuously living from a briefcase and the storage room meant that there wasn't a place to put the picture for safe-keeping. Still, Jason would have to find out sooner or later. He'd have questions. Clark—no, Superman—had the answers.

"Yeah," Jason sniffled, picking the picture up off the ground. "Maybe it fell out of his pocket."

Scanning the office area, Clark saw Lois clearly busy with Jimmy. No one in the vicinity was watching them, all absorbed with their business. Deadlines, promotions, news filtering through…it all seemed so minimal now. Clark knew that whatever he did now would affect the rest of his life. A pivotal moment in the history of Superman, and these people, all of them provided with a view of a monumental memory that they'd never know of. He took a deep breath and reached for the thick lenses that had cut him off from the rest of the world since he'd left college.

"Jason." His voice was stern, no longer the voice of the normally perky Clark Kent. It was the voice he only used when he was serious, or…when he was Superman.

"W-what?" Jason swiped at his eyes, eliminating the tears.

"I'm sorry," Clark whispered, removing the glasses. "I just don't want you to get hurt."